Govt hastens to finish giving 10 mn free LPG connections

NEWDELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government has literally stepped on the gas with an ambitious plan to dole out 10 million free cooking gas connections under its Ujjwala scheme in the remaining four-five months of the government with the hope of reaping the associated political dividend in the general election in 2019.

“We will achieve 60 million connections by this month-end and add another 10 million in the next four months,” Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told HT.

According to government officials, who asked not to be named, the current pace of adding connections under the scheme is about 1 million poor households per month, which needs to be ramped up to 2.5 million . The scheme, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, on May 1, 2016, about nine months ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, has played a central part in the party’s subsequent election campaigns.

Pradhan added that the scheme is pursued as part of the government’s goal to uplift living conditions of the poor (and not with an eye on votes) and that the political dividend is its “natural” outcome.

In order to make cooking gas more affordable, the ministry has provided option for the scheme beneficiaries to switch over from regular 14.2 kg cylinders to 5 kg mini cylinders. While a regular cylinder without subsidy in Delhi costs Rs 809.50, a scheme beneficiary gets it for Rs 500.90. While the beneficiary pays the market price of the refill, a cash subsidy amount of Rs 308.6 is directly credited to her Aadhaar-linked bank account. Price of mini LPG cylinders is proportionately low and, therefore, affordable for the poor beneficiary, officials said.

The oil ministry is using over 3 lakh Common Service Centres (CSCS) to ensure distribution of LPG cylinders in villages and remote areas, officials said. CSCS are kiosks for delivery of government services.

The government has already paid ₹7,680 crore subsidy to provide connections to over 58 million households so far and has funds sanctioned to take this number to 80 million, officials said. It plans to reach this target by March 2020 and for that it has made the scheme more inclusive, officials said.

The Cabinet on Monday extended the deposit-free cooking gas connections to poor households which could not avail the scheme because they were neither enlisted in the Socio-economic Caste Census (SECC) nor figured in the seven other categories eligible for the subsidy.

The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) provides a subsidy of Rs 1,600 for a deposit-free LPG connection to the eligible poor household, besides an interest-free loan to purchase stove and refill. Out of the 58 million beneficiaries so far, 48% belonged to the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe categories, officials said.

Deepak Mahurkar, partner and leader (oil and gas), PWC India, said: “The initiative is indeed laudable for making the refined fuel available to as many households in the country as possible. The next action to focus on is to make sure that those who are availing LPG facility for the first time are educated about its benefits and making them avoid using the agro waste which leads to health hazards.”